


Chess - a Josh Dun imagine

by lionessliv



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 15:39:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12038997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessliv/pseuds/lionessliv
Summary: Working late has always been the worst - but tonight things might change.A Josh Dun imagine.





	Chess - a Josh Dun imagine

It was one of those nights in which the café was pretty empty. You turned around behind the bar and placed a cleaned coffee cup on the board behind you. An old woman sat in the corner, reading the latest vogue while trying to grab her coffee mug without looking up from her magazine, a man sat with his kid in a booth and tipping on his phone while the little one fell asleep every two minutes and a guy with yellow hair sat in a booth in front of a chess game, staring at the figures and drinking his coffee.  
The rain outside didn’t seem to stop. It had been pouring the whole day and people seemed to shy away from the thought of getting wet, so they stayed inside. The man and his kid stood up and left. With a sigh you grabbed a tray and went to their booth, getting the man’s cup and swiping the table clean. While going back you got a look on the chess board and noticed the figures hadn’t moved a bit.

  
“You need someone to play?”, you asked and looked at the guy. A pair of brown eyes looked up at you and a shy smile appeared on his lips.  
“I actually have no idea how to play”, he said and moved a pawn across the board. “But it helps me think.”, he said and lowered his head again.  
“How about a refill?”, you asked after a short pause. Something was not quite right here and, mostly because of his eyes – he looked like a lost puppy. Since the café was nearly empty you decided it would not hurt to find out what was wrong with him.  
“That would be nice, thank you.”, he said without looking up and you nodded, putting away the tray and the mug before coming back with a full can of hot coffee.  
“Want me to teach you?”, you asked as you refilled his cup. He shook his head.  
“But I wouldn’t mind some company.”, was all he said. A quick look over to the woman who was reading her magazine – she was still searching for her mug with her hand, completely lost in an article – before you sat down across from him.  
“So, what’s wrong?”, you asked, wiping your hands on your apron. The guy didn’t answer, so you stretched your arms and rubbed your neck. This was your first break since you started this morning. Normally it wasn’t a problem to run this store with three people, but the owner of the café was sick and your co-worker on holiday. This was your third day of being here on your own the whole day and half of the night. Your boss had called to let you know she’d be back tomorrow. But still, tomorrow was a few hours away.

  
“You look exhausted”, a voice said and you looked up. The guy watched you closely now and a smile had stretched out on his lips. “Hard day, hm?”, he asked and examined you closely. Whatever had kept his mind busy seemed to have moved to the background now he had something else to focus on.  
“Try days”, you answered and supressed a yawn. “My boss is sick and the co-worker on holiday”, you admitted after he’d raised an eyebrow.  
“Ouch”, he said and sat straighter before pushing the chess set closer to you. “Try non-sense chess. It helps.”, he said and hopped over a pawn with his bishop and moved it some squares so it would do a curve and end in front of the white chess figures which were standing right before you.  
“This was wrong”, you said and looked at the chess set. Your grandfather had taught you how to play so he could take you to the park with him. After he had died you hadn’t touched a single chess game.  
“I know, but it helps. You should try it.”, he mumbled and seemed amused. Utterly confused you watched him take a rook and move it crosswise over the board.  
Sceptical you looked at the figures and then focused on the guy across you. He had athletic arms and a wide back, stubbles spread out all over his strong jaw and one of his hands jammed restless on his knee.  
“With what does this non-sense chess help?”, you asked and raised an eyebrow. His smirk made you go crazy, he looked like he knew something you didn’t.  
“For example,”, he said and leaned forward, “it helps to start a conversation and when one is lucky, even with a pretty girl.”  
Your eyebrow wandered even higher and you crossed your arms before your chest. He then continued: “And it keeps my hands moving, which is good cause then I don’t have this urge to drum on something or to annoy people with the drumming.” He shrugged and moved the white king from his place next to the queen on his rook’s side. “It distracts me, keeps my mind busy, cause you can come up with a million ways to play these pieces.”  
Although his whole body language had changed, from the rather scared and lost looking puppy-guy into a more confident kinda-normal guy, you still noticed something was off. He seemed nervous – although he hid it quite well.

  
“Good, let’s play. But we could chat a bit while doing so? I mean, who would not get to know a pretty girl like me?”, you said cheerfully, imitating his attempt to flirt with you. He giggled and nodded.  
“I think it’s your turn though”, he said, crossing his arms before his chest and eyeing the board suspiciously before deciding that he was right and raising his gaze on you. “Your turn, definitely.” In the next second one of his hands was drumming on the table while the other one grabbed the mug and he took a sip of coffee.  
“Alright, then I start with a question as well.”, you said, choosing your rook and placing it right in front of his. “What’s your name?”, you asked casually. Of course you wanted to know why he was that nervous and what was bothering him, but going easy on him first seemed a better option.  
“Josh. And yours is…?”, he wanted to know and smiled at you. The skin around his eyes suddenly got wrinkly and his eyes disappeared for a moment, before the smile got lost again and only a faint remembrance of it was left.  
“(Y/n)”, you answered and watched Josh’s next move. He placed his king on the spot where your rook had been.  
“That’s a pretty name”, he said and winked at you. “Fitting a pretty girl like you”, he added, waiting for your reaction. As he got a sigh and an eyeroll, he raised his hands defensively and grinned. “Okay, okay, I got it. No more flirting with the pretty waitress.” You couldn’t help but smile. He was cute. “Okay, my turn. You said you could teach me. Who taught you how to play?”  
Okay, now he had lost his puppy license. So you were gonna get personal? All right… “My grandpa.”, you paused. “He taught me so he could take me to the park with him. I spent some summers sitting there with him and playing and trying to beat him and his friends.” You paused and he just nodded, obviously realising that no comment was needed on this.  
“Can I take some of your pieces with mine? Or doesn’t that rule do for non-sense chess?”, you asked, taking your queen and lifting it up from the board, slowly circling it over the board as if you were deciding on which to throw out.  
“Oh, that would take away all the fun but yes, you can.” He watched your movement attentively and added: “But that would end the game sooner.” He sounded displeased with that thought.  
“Alright, then answer me this and I might not throw you out of here”, you started, nodding towards the board before you grinned at him. “You looked really unhappy and anxious earlier. What’s bothering you so much?”

  
His face, previously looking relaxed and happy, seemed to deflate. His eyes lost their shimmer and his cheeks seemed to sink in before your eyes. His whole body language changed immediately and he looked like the lost puppy again. “Yo-you noticed?”, he asked and his hands were now drumming on his knees restlessly again.  
“Yeah, sure”, you said, putting the piece down, “I see a lot of people here and they all seem to have their problems but you” – were the first one I seem to care about. “You seemed lost, so I thought I should check whether I could help.”, you said instead and for a second a weak smile made it onto his lips. For a moment, no one talked. The lady in the back shuffled her magazine and left the store afterwards. The café was now empty except for you and Josh. The silence stretched out, Josh was obviously fighting with himself whether he should tell you or not. By the time the whirring of the neon lamps over your head nearly drove you crazy, his voice broke the silence.  
“I’m in a band and tomorrow we’re leaving for our first big tour. I’m… I might not seem like it”, there it was again, a flash of the cheeky grin, “but I’m pretty anxious about it. I hope… I, or, we won’t disappoint the fans too much and… yeah.”, he shrugged and his gaze met yours.  
For a second you said nothing. You could really understand him, his thoughts, and doubts. But from what you’ve seen, and were constantly hearing because he hadn’t stopped drumming on the table, you guessed he was pretty good with the drums.  
“Do you have any recordings? I’d love to hear your music.” You said and leaned forward, smiling reassuringly at him. Who were you to judge before you had at least a rough idea of his music?  
At first, he seemed hesitant, but then you spent the next twenty minutes looking at videos of him and his friend, a certain Tyler, listening to some recordings and discussing lyrics and techniques. After all, you were pretty impressed with what he and Tyler had created.  
“Well, I understand your anxiety, but I am sure you’ll do great!”, you said and shortly rested your hand on his. You’ve gotten comfortable with Josh really quickly and you inhaled sharply as you noticed that it was already 3a.m.  
“Time surely flies when you’re having fun, he?”, Josh asked and you nodded.  
“Yeah. I should have closed the shop an hour ago…”, you sighed and closed your eyes for a second, suddenly realising how heavy your eyelids were and how tired you felt. “I guess I’ll do that now.” Heaving yourself up from the bench you took the can of coffee and started to clean the counter and the cans, preparing everything for the next morning. Josh, in the meantime, put together his chess set and then waited patiently for you to finish your job. Hanging your apron on the hook next to the door was the last thing you did and turning around you noticed Josh still was there, leaning on the counter and waiting for you.

  
“Got a long way home?”, he asked and you shook your head. A smile stretched out on Josh’s face as you told him it you lived only a block away.  
“I’ll walk you home if that’s okay?”, he asked and you nodded gladly.  
The streets were quiet and while you walked down the road Josh seemed a little more relaxed and more talkative. You talked about his music and somehow got back to chess and Josh saying how he’d love to learn it someday – a point where you gladly offered your services.  
“I hope you’ll have a great start of your tour tomorrow”, you said as you arrived in front of your building. He stood there, his hands buried in his pockets and a sheepish grin on his face.  
“Thanks (y/n). I hope you can take some time off after your horror shift of the last few days.”, he winked at you and for a second none of you seemed to know what to do. A handshake? A hug? A kiss?  
And then, the moment was over. Josh nodded at you and turned around, walking off back in the night, a slightly jump in every second step and hopefully a smile on his face. You opened the door, walked in and were gladder than ever about the lift your building possessed.

  
There wasn’t a sign of Josh for the next few weeks. You sometimes googled his band to see what they were up to, but there was not much content on them and so you kept going on with your days, doing shifts in the café, filling in for your co-workers – and slowly getting back into playing chess in the park.

____

  
One night, your boss’ daughter was sick so she needed to stay home, you heard the sound of the doorbell. “Be there any second”, you called from the back, heaving a bag of coffee beans from a shelf and carrying it to the front. The café was not crowded, an old man who read a book, a teenage couple, busy with themselves and a young woman with a laptop. Looking around for the new customer you noticed a person with bright yellow hair in the booth next to the window, a chess board placed in front of him and not one piece moved. Josh looked up and your eyes met. He smiled brightly at you and gestured towards the chess set: “Thought it’d be time for me to learn it properly.”, he said and your rushed over to his booth, an exited smile on your lips.


End file.
